That time of year...

Year after year the people of our planet continue to celebrate the passage of time in several ways.  Thanksgiving is the start of this passage of time, as it's a holiday seemingly independent from religion.   Everyone gets together with families and talks about what they are thankful for, to which there should be a great list of such things if you're normal.  Some people are down on their luck, and really I start to wonder if the keeping of this tradition near the end of the year is on purpose, as it helps prepare you for what you want to do better the following year.  Keeping in with these traditions there are things like Black Friday and Christmas that get tossed into the mix as well.  Christmas isn't something as universally accepted as Thanksgiving, yet here in Indianapolis around a hundred thousand people pack the downtown for the festival of lighting the Monument in the center of downtown as a tree. 

 

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 2500ISO, Canon EF16-35F2.8L@16mm, 1/15th@F6.3)

Personally one of the things I'm most thankful for is being able to continue to do what I love, which is taking pictures.  Definitely a dream job for myself, that I hope I'll be able to do for quite some time to come.  I've been honored over the last few years to be on staff at the Indianapolis star with the likes of Michelle Pemberton, Matt Detrich, Matt Kryger, Sam Riche, Bob Scheer and many more.  All are award winning photographers and rightfully so.  All friends of mine now, which I can only count my blessings as there are many days I wonder what sort of song and dance I had to do to actually get this job in the first place. 

 

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 5000ISO, Canon EF300mmF2.8, 1/1600th@F2.8)

Those are the shoes of the tapdancers going on stage in the first photo.  I decided recently that one aspect of my photography that is lacking is some detail work at events, for which my thoughts were to go big or go home for this event.  With that thought I shot most of the event using a 300mmF2.8 lens, and rotated back and forth between using it with and without a 1.4x multiplier.  I probably should have thought about what I was doing as Matt Detrich shot this event as well for the news side of the paper.  I'm fully prepared to find his image on page A1 tomorrow, and he deserves it.  Outstandingly great shooter.  You can check out his coverage of the event here.  He beat me to santa on that first image.  I wasn't happy, but I guess that's the way things go, and I guess that's why he is who he is.  Always knows what he's looking for.  Photojournalism is something that I lack at as it's not something I have to do on a regular basis.  I'd love to do more of it, but in terms of what I do normally it's most likely not in the cards unless it comes from outside Indystar.  

 

(CanonEOS5d Mark II, 2500ISO, Canon EF300mmF2.8, 1/200th@F3.2)

Being this my 5th year covering this event, I wont even lie; I 'm running out of ways to shoot it.  I may have said something similar last year when I shot the event too, but I'm not going to go back and read about it. I suppose that another thing I'm thankful for is that my images don't get put side by side with Matt's, who I'm fairly confident only actually took 16 photos tonight; each of which were perfect and posted them up online. (Maybe not, but he is aweseome) I figure maybe they will discover the number of bad photos I take in a days time or something, cause me to need to clean the bathrooms, or something equally cruel and unusual.  I kid, I kid, they would just look at me funny; not make me clean the bathrooms....

 

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 2500ISO, Canon EF300mmF2.8 with a 1.4x Teleconverter bringing my total to 420mm.  1/200th@F4)

One thing I am also thankful for this year is that I personally own Nikon Equipment.  I apologize for throwing this in here, but since I'm confident that nobody important reads this anyway I'll go ahead and say that I am absolutely disappointed with the 5D Mark II that is provided for me to use through the Indianapolis Star.  I have never used a camera with such abysmal autofocus whether in low light conditions or not.  I find myself firing three times as many frames as I do with my Nikon equipment because I need to make sure that I have a photo that is in focus to turn into our clients.  Not that I don't like the fact that I'm provided equipment, I just wish I could rely on it to produce sharp results, which I can't.  I'd prever my Nikon D700 or D3s ANY DAY, even at half the resolution.  

I feel like this blog post has been more of a rant than anything else, and that's not what I'm going for here I assure you.  I am very thankful for quite a few facets of my life.  Especially thankful that I've got Monday and Tuesday off this week.  Have a trip to St. Louis planned with the Girlfriend which should be nice.  The normal Photo of the day posting may take a hit unless I can figure out how to do it from the iPad, which I firmly believe is possible but potentially beyond the realm of my figuring out. 

 

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 2500ISO, Canon EF300mmF2.8, 1/160th@F4)

I think everybody knows who that is.  If not than I cant help you.  He is a staple at this event and normally spends a lot of time with the coloring contest winner for the state (whose prize for winning the contest is turning the key to light the tree).  Really as a kid, that's a pretty solid prize.  Heck, if I won a contest and they told me I got to do that I'd be excited too.   

Really though I think I'm excited to have a few days off.  This weekend I need to finish the proof of Justin and Lori's wedding DVD and start going through the pictures again, as well as work on another few shoots I had last weekend.   But Monday and Tuesday are totally work free.  Unless I can do it on the iPad which I mostly can't.  (I can edit HD Video on the iPad?  Awww crap...).  Either way, I hope that everyone else can find things that they are thankful for.  Work related, family related, life related or just in luck.  I know I've found a few new ones lately, what about you?  More Soon. 

Static Shocked....

Two weeks ago I got a very strange call from my boss at the newspaper.  That call was about an assignment that was very much unlike a normal assignment for me, in being that it wasn't a controlled environment, and a controlled subject.  This assignment was an event at the Vogue here in Indianapolis called Static Shock hosted as a fundraiser by Static Salon in Broad Ripple here in Indianapolis. 

(Nikon D700, 2000ISO, Nikon 14-24F2.8Nano@22mm 1/60th@F2.8)

Anybody that has read this blog knows that most of my newspaper and non newspaper assignments include things like business portraits or product photos for glossy publication.  A fewer amount of people are going to notice that while normally I shoot Canon for the newspaper (as that's what they provide me), This event I decided to break out my own Nikon equipment as it provides me cleaner and sharper images in this kind of an environment. 

 

(Nikon D700, 280ISO, Nikon 14-24F2.8Nano@21mm, 1/40th@F2.8)

Honestly I was very saddened by the number of photographers that I saw at the Vogue that night that were shooting just to get their names out there.  Don't get me wrong, I can definitely understand the need to get your name out there, but in order to even think about doing that you need to have some idea as to what you are doing.  There were several 'photographers' that night that had cameras that were most certainly set to program that had flashes on camera set to EPIC blasting the most amount of light as possible towards their subjects.  In some cases missing the most beautiful of light in the darkest of places...

(Nikon D3s, 450ISO, Nikon 50mmF1.4G, 1/80th@F2)

That was shot in completely ambient light that night in the Vogue.  Not but moments later I saw another of many photographer blasting Mr. Stuart Sayger with their direct on camera flash.  Not saying that using flash is always bad, and that you need to ramp to High ISO every chance that you get either because getting away with using High ISO all the time can make you lazy.  It's like when I was younger and because I survived the dentist I told my mom and dad that I deserved some candy because I had no cavities.  A month after I'd be using that same excuse for candy knowing full well that the reward time had long since past.  If you get away with using it once or twice you can easily start to always think it's feeseable.  Even thought my D3s is capable of very useable images at 12,800ISO doesn't mean I always if ever actually go there.

(Nikon D3s, 2000ISO, Nikon 70-200VR2N@116mm, 1/250th@F4.  Single Canon 580EX Speedlight set to 1/32nd Power zoomed to 105mm superclamped to the upper level of the Vogue pointed down at the runway fired by Pocket Wizard.)

That's one of the lovely ladies from the Fashion part of the show at the Vogue, after all; that was my assignment.  I can't honestly complain about having to take photos of so many lovely ladies either.  Honestly the only thing better than doing that is the fact that my girlfriend Shannon accepts the fact that I do what I do, knowing that these girls are doing their job while I'm doing mine.  Speaking of doing my job I had the fortunate ability to run an experiment at the vogue while I was there...

(Nikon D700, 2500ISO, Nikon 14-24mmF2.8Nano@17mm, 1/60th@F4.  Canon 580EX Speedlight set to 1/32nd power zoomed to 105mm superclamped to the upper level of the Vogue fired by Pocket Wizard)

Shooting Sports gave me sort of a crazy idea that I put into practice that night as you can see above.  That blueish light in the photo isn't actually as much a blueish light as it is a Speedlight superclamped to the upper level of the Venue.  Having shot enough sports using speedlights set to low power I decided to see what that could do for me in terms of sharpness at a venue with uncontrollable dynamic lighting.  Honestly, it was the best thing that I ever did as it allowed me to bring my ISO down to between 1600 and 2500 for the evening, and made my images more consistantly sharper than they would have been otherwise; just like when shooting sports this way.  

 

(Nikon D3s, 2500ISO, Nikon 70-200VR2N@70mm, 1/200th@F2.8.  Single Canon 580EX Speedlight set to 1/32nd Power zoomed to 105mm superclamped to the upper level of the Vogue pointed down at the runway fired by Pocket Wizard.)

All in all the evening was a heck of an event.  It had a great turn out, and was beautifully scripted to which the naked eye could tell no deviation, and I met at least one other photographer that I felt as though I could learn from.  Great job to the ladies out at Static Salon for the event that they put on.  I greatly hope that they decide to host such an event next year whether or not  I'm fortunate enough to cover it or not.  More Soon. 

Just one Light...

A lot of people ask me about my lighting techniques, and how I come up with some of the things that I do in order to light things effectively.  The last blog post was definitely one with a complicated light setup in it too.  This one is a little differently.  I believe it was Zack Arias that recommended originally that anyone learning to light should learn to do so with a Single 60" umbrella and that's it.  Mainly  because that's all you really need.  Not that hair lights, and fill lights, and background lights aren't necessary in some cases, but in most cases they totally aren't...

 

(CANON 5D Mark II, 250ISO, Canon 70-200F2.8IS@200mm, 1/40th@F10.  Single Canon 580EX Speedlight to below camera left at 1/4th power zoomed to 70mm shot through a 32" Translucent Umbrella fired by Pocket Wizard)

Nicole here is the Neice of the owner of Ceez Genesis Salon here in Indy.  Had two lights set up to start and totally according to plan one didn't fire giving me this.  The other one with both lights looks pretty solid too, but I love the way the light defines her face in this; and so does she.  Only one light thought, and it most definitely works.  It wasn't even a 60" Umbrella like I was pushing above the pic! 

The one light isn't just a fill light from on camera though and unless you have a ring-light, direct on camera flash as your only light source should be last resort.  Ring-light is a very style specific piece of equipment that can be used for either that style, or at a very low power as a fill light.  Personally I'm not much a fan of the ring-light, but that's another story for another day; back to the Umbrella.  Say you don't have an  umbrealla and can't afford one?  There are lots of things you can do with a single solitary light without an umbrella....

 

(Nikon D3s, 1600iso, Nikon 18-23F3.5-4.5@22mm.  1/40th@F5.6.  Single SB-900 Speedlight zoomed to 200mm on a light stand set to 1/16th power aimed directly down on the bride and groom fired by Pocket Wizard)

My Pal Scott at Roberts Distributors reminded me the other day that a little bit of hard light can go a long way sometimes.  The above photo was made using ambient light as a very little bit of fill light, with a single bare bulb strobe behind the Bride and Groom.  Yes it took several shots to get this one, in fact I'm pretty sure I have about 50 shots of the light blasting me in the eyes......but in the end this shot was worth the effort, and the bride and groom have something very unique to remember the moment with.  

Doesn't take much light sometimes.  Earlier this week I shot a semi commercial job using a single hard light actually.  It was kind of a last second job with no staff or budget, but we made it work.  Vincents Furs wanted some photos of their jackets, and the ads are going to look like a night out on the town.  Due to lack of any other preparation we went with the Single Speedlight approach.  Seemed to work ok.....

 

(Canon 5D Mark II, 320ISO, Canon 16-35F2.8L@18mm.  1/100th@F5.6.  Single Canon 580EX Speedlight set to 1/8th Zoomed out to 24mm held directly over the table from camera right attached to the end of a Home Depot Paint pole fired by pocket wizard held by one of the Male models waiting for their turn to be shot.)

That's an outtake from the shoot.  Not sure if its what they are looking for or not, but we'll find out.  Probably would have been nice to have had drinks or something on the table, but with a lack of budget we weren't going to buy 12 beers for the cast and crew and then either finish the shoot a little beer'd up or leave them there....  

Sometimes though, you just need to go all out, or maybe just observe things are they are.........behold the beauty of photography.  Had a lot of different experiences the last two weeks since I've blogged.  Roller Derby Nationals is coming up in Chicago next weekend.  I won't be attending as I've got a few gigs here in Indy that I booked prior, but I will be represented by photography up there in programs and as some trading cards.  Derby season has started up again too.........but this is all too much to go into now....More Soon.

5 minute portraits...

So many times, people have said they wished they had all the time in the world when it comes to taking photos of people while shooting a portrait.  Family photographers sometimes feel that an hour or an hour and a half isn't enough time.  Ironically though, in a lot of cases I wish I had 15 minutes, much less an hour.

(Nikon D3s, 320ISO, Nikon 85mmF1.4D, 1/60th@F1.6.  Single SB-900 Speedlight inside of a 16" FotoRosa Softbox to camera right with a Half CTO on it.  Speedlight was set to iTTL-0.3 and was fired by an SU-800 Speedlight Commander on the camera)

That's Thijs.  Cool Cat. Loves to argue though, and Boy have we argued.  Not like, intense upset at each other argue, but more along the lines of debate.  One of his favorite past times is picking a topic and debating it.  Don't get me wrong I'm all for a good debate, but dang he loves it.  Took this for him and his Company Ultrasun USA (and Ultrasun International) last week.  He doesn't come to the States very often, but when he does he has things to do.  After I got there he had about 5 minutes for us to shoot photos, which is what we did.  I've done work for their company for some time now, and we get along.  He is comfortable with me, and I with him and that comfort level is something I wish I had with a lot of people that I've shot photos of because interaction and comfort level is important to snapping a good frame.  

Believe it or not though, this is relatively normal when it comes to someone that is anybody.  Not that families aren't anybody; hear me out.  I spend several days a month shooting in active retired communities, and holy cow these people are active.  In fact, in the last string of days I spent out at one of these places, I didn't even get the peoples names.  The PR person wanted to handle all of it, and Hey... Who am I to argue with easier for me?

(Canon 5D Mark II, 500ISO, Canon 16-35mmF2.8L@19mm.  1/30th@F7.1.  Canon 580EX SPeedlight set to 1/16th inside of a 16" FotoRosa Softbox to above camera left fired by Pocket wizard.  Single 580EX Speedlight set to 1/32nd power zoomed to 70mm sitting on the kitchen floor aimed at the ceiling for a little bit of illumination. Also fired by Pocket Wizard)

That's Linda Wirth, a resident at Del Webb Active living community on the north side.  I probably could have taken longer with her than I did (after all I was in, set up, and out in 15 minutes...), but it was a straight forward assignment.  I needed to illustrate her in the house that she fell in love with .  This isn't the photo that ran, but this was my favorite out of the group.  Lots of shoots that I've done shooting or Del Webb have only lasted 15 minutes or less.  It can be crazy stressful, yet gratifying when done correctly.

(Canon 5D Mark II, 125ISO, Canon 16-35mmF2.8L@26mm.  1/160th@F11.  Single Canon 580EX Speedlight on a Stand to camera right zoomed to 105mm at 1/2 power aimed right at his face fired by pocket wizard. )
That's John Ditslear, the Mayor of Noblesville Indiana.  This isn't the final photo for this shoot, but I liked this one best.  Part of my assignment was to shoot the Mayor in front of City Hall, which could have been a nightmare since the sun was coming up over the building that morning.  If I had my Nikon gear I'd not have thought twice about it with the TTL, but Manual Flash out of  my Canon Speedlights saved the day.  Just in case though, I also shot him in his office. In Total his would have been a 15 minute or less shoot except that the Mayor popped a button off of his jacket and his assistant had to fix it real quick.  It gave us a few minutes to chat, and tell a few jokes (no no, not the Laffy Taffy jokes.....ok well maybe).  He was very personable and we got along which as I said; is important.  Being comfortable with your subject makes for great photos.  In fact at the end of the shoot he confessed that there is no such thing as the key to the city, but he gave me the closest thing to it; which was a Noblesville medallion with his name on it.  More Soon.

Racing to shoot...

So last year I was offered an opportunity. I was offered an opportunity to shoot a Nascar event known as the Kroger 200. I only bring this up because I didn't do it as I was already slated to shoot a wedding that weekend. The big thing with me is that I don't like to say no to too many projects that I want, as I know that the more I say no the less people will ask. Not that I'll take on any project that comes my way (as no photographer should), I just don't like turning people away when it's something that I especially want to do. Luckily though, Kroger came back to me this year and asked me to shoot their Race the night before the Brickyard 400: The Kroger 200 at O'Reilley Raceway Park.

(Nikon D3s, 1250ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/250th@F3.5)

The regular star coverage can be found here. I'd never been to a NASCAR Race, much less gotten an opportunity for an ALL ACCESS PASS to shoot one. You may say that I know nothing about Shooting a race, and I'd almost agree with you. Not almost agree because I've shot an Indy 500, or a MotoGP. Not because of the Purdue Grand Prix either. I'd only almost agree because my assignment meant that I was only required to take one shot. That's all. Just one. That meant that the other quite a few hours that I was out at the race? I was there getting paid, just for me.

(Nikon D3s, 1000ISO, Nikon 70-200VR2@82mm, 1/200@F2.8)

My assignment was to take a photo of the winner. Until I knew who that was, I had free reign of the entire racetrack. The guy above was one of the pitt crew for Car #98, Paul Menard. He was watching the race from on top of the travel trailer. Honestly I'd have love to have climbed up there and seen the race from there even, but honestly short of levitating I'm not sure how he got up there. Didn't need the shot, but just like a lot of photographers; you don't just take what you need.

(Nikon D700, 1250ISO, Sigma 15mm Fisheye, 1/800th@F5.6)

There are certain things you will do though while there. As an example, I am sending Kroger the photos that I did take, that I like but didn't use. Everything above is an example of that. There are lots of uninteresting photos of random racecars, strange people with mullets, or weird fisheye angles that didn't quite work out, but I'm only sending them as an extra for having me out. After all, they didn't have to right? Not only that, but from what I understand they were very pleased with the shot I took of the winner. It ran full page on the back of the Racing Special Section last Monday. Full page isn't a good enough description though I suppose. It ran larger than the front page photo by Sam Riche (an awesome photographer/good friend), which was almost full page. There were no extra ads on this photo, it was just the photo. Second largest thing I've ever had run in the newspaper. Just like the largest thing I've ever had run though, this one had no photo credit....More Soon.

The Rundown...

So it's been a lot longer than my normal hiatus of blogging, and I can't even say that I'm sorry I've been busy. I'm sorry I haven't blogged, but not that I've been busy. Over the last week I've covered more than my fair share of variety.


Shot that for Prudential Corporate to go with their online and print marketing for all of Indianapolis.


That's a White gold pendant that I shot for Midwest Coin and Jewelry in Nora Indiana, to go into full page newspaper ads.


(info)
That was shot to go with a Transportation story about becoming a trucker in a Careerbuilder Special section.



That's a new promo shot for Adrianne from Metromix Indianapolis. Some people may remember the last set of promo's here.



This was an article about cleaning Dust out of ductwork to keep your heating and cooling bills down. This was for an article in Green Indy.



Last but not least, that's a photo from the the NRG Third Alarms vs the Rockford Rage. Made a special trip back up to where I grew up to see some friends just to be able to shoot this bout.

So there you have it, kind of a rundown as to some of the things I've been doing over the last week. Not a lot of technical shooting info this week, as much of it is just an update that I am still alive, and cranking. Have a bunch of phone calls I need to return, and if you're one of them I promise that you aren't forgotten. I'll get back to you as I can. Am working on some potential food clients, couple of weddings coming up, have a behind the scenes video for the ninja's over at www.fstoppers.com that I'm putting together, and already have a few of the NRG 2011 Calendar shoots written out. Things are about to get very exciting, very quickly. More soon.

On the Hunt...

Every year at the newspaper during the winter we do a weekly special section called Read the Indianapolis Zoo. Primarily in accordance with the Zoo of course because people don't go to the zoo as much during the winter due to the cool weather. I don't even go to the Zoo much when it's nice outside, not except for when my mom comes to town, a date, or for a wedding. The cool part about shooting the 'Read the Zoo' section isn't that the images go on trading cards for families and kids all over Indianapolis, but that I get real one on one time with some of the cooler animals that live there.

(Canon EOS1D MARK II, 1600ISO, Canon EF100mmMacro, 1/250th@F2.8. Canon 580EX Speedlight shot through the left part of the tank through the glass at 1/16th power, fired by pocket wizard)

Yup, I found Nemo. I'd say that was this guys actual name, except I'd be lying. The trainer that is assigned to escort e through the zoo from animal to animal is usually filled with excessive amounts of trivia about the animals. In fact they mentioned that this particular type of clownfish his actually poisonous. I had no idea, and actually can't really verify that fact using online research as apparently there are a bunch of different kinds of clownfish.

(Nikon D2x, 400ISO, Nikon 70-200VR@200mm. 1/80th@F2.8. Single Nikon SB-800 Speedlight set to iTTL to camera left shot through the Lexan safety glass fired by SC-28 Off camera Cable.)

Speaking of Poisonus. This little (or actually very large) dude was shot through about an inch of Lexan shatterproof glass. This is the King Rattler and dang he was a mean looking snake. The year I shot this, I shot it with my own Nikon equipment because the newspaper couldn't spare a 400mm during Football season for me to shoot some of the birds in the Atrium. He was awake, and obviously not happy he was in his 3 foot by 3 foot glass box in the dark. I didn't spend much time on this guy...

(Canon EOS1D Mark II, 400ISO, Canon EF100mmMacro, 1/250th@F5.6. Single Canon 580EX Speedlight shot into a reflector to camera left set to eTTL while attached to a Canon Off camera cable.)

This little treefrog guy was a blast to work with. Lot of fun, great smile and very cooperative. Whether you believe it or not he was shot on a regular potted plant on the back counter in the staging area of the Zoo. The trainer pulled him out of his little environment and either he was too petrified to go anyplace, or he just didn't care. Either way, it all worked out nicely. After about 10 minutes, the trainer put him back where he belonged where he again proceeded to just sit and hang out, and I moved to the next animal on my list. Really I can identify with that frog, although I go new places all the time. Sometimes you just don't want to go and do what you need to do. Last weekend I was out shooting and ended up shooting a male stripper doing his routine. Was a little awkward, but ironically not the worst thing I've ever had to do.

(Canon EOS1D Mark II, 400ISO, Canon EF16-35L@16mm, 1/160th@F5)

These little guys are exactly what you'd think they are. Roosters. If there was anything more special about them, I don't remember but whether you want to believe it or not we do have roosters at the zoo. I found it funny that we had roosters in the zoo, but I can imagine that there are a lot of city kids out there that had never seen a rooster, or would never see a rooster in real life. there are a lot of animals I suppose that you don't see in the city, and really it only makes sense that the zoo give everyone that opportunity. Which would only make sense in the movie "I am Legend" with will Smith except that we at Indystar checked with the Zoo in Manhattan and they don't have any deer there on display which is what Will Smith was hunting in his Shelby Cobra Mustang on the Island known as Manhattan..... More soon.

From inside the paint...

Or as close as you can be to being inside the paint while still being a spectator anyway... One week a year I am assigned to shoot sports like I used to at Purdue. One week a year, I get to sit on the sidelines once again and attempt to provide all of the official imagery for the Indiana High School All-Stars basketball teams here in Indianapolis. It's essentially 6 basketball games that have to be shot in as high of quality, and resolution as possible for glossy commercial reproduction. That can be no easy task when shooting in a high school gym, as my good friend Michael Guio learned last week while accompanying me to the Rushville Indiana exhibition game.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 500ISO, Canon EF300mmF2.8IS, 1/200th@F4. Two Dynalight Uni400JR heads set to half power aimed down at the top of the key of the basket I'm sitting under set to 1/2 power fired by pocket wizards)

Anyone who knows me just a little knows that I prefer to shoot my Nikon equipment when it comes to shooting sports. It's what I've shot the most sports on, and I know what it's capable of when shooting things like basketball, soccer, swimming, tennis, football, roller derby or anything else that moves. This year though I decided to do as the newspaper asks and shoot using their equipment. The main reason for this is that if I get hit by a basketball player and break the lens right off of my camera I'M the one paying to fix it, not them because they provide me gear that I wasn't using. Makes sense sort of, except I feel like I'd have done a better job with my own gear. Otherwise though, I didn't think I did too bad for someone who shoots basketball one week a year.

(Canon EOS1D Mark IIn, 100ISO, Canon EF 70-200F2.8IS@70mm, 1/250th@F4. Lit using the in house Pacers lights at Conseco fired via pocket wizard.)

Despite the fact that the days are incredibly long during this week, I do look forward to them every year. I wasn't feeling very well during Conseco series, but I pulled through. Shooting sports spoils me quite a bit though, as watching any sport any other way than on the field or court, is just not good enough. Photographers sit closer than the coaches in some cases. It's also a nice treat to shoot along side of some of the people that I've always looked up to as sports shooters since that's their job all the time. People like Matt Kryger, Tom Campbell from Purdue, Mike Conroy and AJ Mast. I have a great deal of respect for these guys becuae they've shot better sports images with their eyes closed than I'd even be able to stage on my own.

(Canon EOS1D Mark II, 400ISO, CanonEF300mmF2.8IS, 1/250th@F4. Two Dynalight UNI400JR;s about 20 feet above the court in the stands aimed at the top of the key of the basket that I'm sitting under set to 1/2 power fired by pocket wizards.)

The thing I Like about shooting sports, is the same thing that I like about shooting jewelery; it's tough. You either get something or you don't. In sports you can't dwell on it though, you just have to keep shooting in sports. I've actually been known to put tape over the back LCD on my camera so I don't spend more time looking at the images than shooting them. Yea sometimes it's nice to be able to eliminated out of focus images, or images without the ball in them but like I said earlier; you either got it or you didn't in sports.

(Canon EOS1D Mark IIn, 100ISO, Canon EF 70-200F2.8IS@153mm, 1/250th@F4. Lit using the in house Pacers lights at Conseco fired via pocket wizard.)

The one down side to this assignment is also the greatest part. My assignment isn't one player, it's the Indiana team. That means the Introductions, the Awards winners, and game action from every player. It's not just about number 1, number 8 or any other individual. Yes I absolutely need photos of Mr. and Miss. Basketball, but ALL the team is important. It's nice because I can shoot anything I like. It's not as nice because I have to make sure anything I shoot is sharp and lit. It's an incredibly stressful week, but I'm already looking forward to next year. Check out all the photos for download by the teams and families here. More Soon.

(Canon EOS1D Mark IIn, 800ISO, CanonEF70-200F2.8IS@70mm, 1/125th@F4)

Tourist Shooting...

Every now and then I'm given an opportunity to shoot like a tourist. By that I mean, I am given an assignment at a location and am told just to wander around and take photos of things. Just like a tourist. Last week I had scheduled to visit the IMA, right here in Indianapolis Indiana.



These kinds of assignments are nice because it's exactly as I mentioned earlier; I just walk around and shoot things, looking for the artsy stuff that show off the place that I'm at. The photo below shows a lot of the foliage that the IMA has to offer. The amount of Foliage is one of my favorite things about the IMA, as I like trees, grass, flowers, plants, and the like. Not that I could identify them, or that I grow them at home necessarily; I just like to see and smell them while they are in a large herd.



I like to call this style, shooting like a tourist, as the venue's are usually pretty beautiful and anybody with a cell phone camera could take a photo that's probably going to be pretty awesome. As I was there in tourist fashion I wish I'd have been able to visit my friend Kate, who works there as the New Media Manager. Unfortunately there wasn't time to see her, and I ended up wandering the gardens alone chasing butterflies as if they were cars. These places need photos too though, just like sugar cubes, cardboard boxes, or tiny screws. People love going to these places because they aren't like normal. They aren't the inside of a cubicle, they aren't the back of a pickup truck,and they most certainly aren't cutting the grass.


Overall it was a nice day to wander around. Take a bit of a departure from doing the little logistical paperwork things that fill up the down times in the profession as a photographer. It was nice to go and do something mindless, nice to take time to smell the flowers, if you will. More Soon.

Big Jobs with Small Flash...

A few weeks ago I was offered an opportunity to redo all of the marketing material for a retirement community here in Indianapolis. As it turns out Justus homes isn't just a custom made housing company, but they also own several retirement villages. This opportunity came a little differently than a normal shoot like this would, as this one came through the newspaper as opposed to from the outside world. Anybody who reads the blog, knows that I prefer to use Speedlights when on location, but sometimes getting down to low 100 or 200ISO can be tough with speedlights. Advancements in cameras allow us to climb relatively high into the ISO scale to accomplish what we need with minimal noise though. I've shot jobs with lights that have taken me all the way up to 2500ISO for commercial print. The D3 is an amazing camera when it comes to High ISO noise, but despite that fact, the lower you can stay in an ISO range, the better. That's not why I chose to shoot this assignment for the newspaper with my personal Nikon gear though. I chose to shoot this with my personal Nikon gear instead of the 5D Mark II and L lenses they provide me is because of the Nikon iTTL Wireless Speedlight system.

(Nikon D3, 320ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-F4.5@26mm. 1/50th@F5. Single SB900 Speedlight behind the wall to camera right pointed towards the coffee drinking lady at the table shot through a 43" Umbrella on a stand set to TTL+/-, Single SB900 Speedlight set to TTL-1 zoomed to 70mm Fired into the opened refrigerator door to illuminate the food prep lady. Both Speedlights fired by Nikon SU-800 Speedlight Commander on Camera)

The director of marketing had some very specific things in mind when it came to the shots we were to take at the Crestwood Village retirement communities. (At the time of this blog, the media on the website aren't mine. The media on the Direct mail is though). These communities are especially known for hosting an active lifestyle, and all of the residents that I met were genuinely ecstatic to be not only there for the photos, but to live there in general. The staff was very helpful as well, always making sure peoples concerns and needs were taken care of, which in this next photo was something we wanted to show.

(Nikon D3, 320ISO, Nikon 50mmF1.4G, 1/400th@F2. Two SB-900 Speedlights zoomed to 70mm set to 1/4th power sitting on the desk pointed into a bedsheet draped on the wall to camera left. Both Speedlights were fired by SU800 Speedlight commander unit from on camera.)

Aside from that yellow office being yellow, it was significantly smaller than it looks in this photo. Made sure to use the trusty bed sheet for lotsa reasons. All the residents thought I was out of my mind when it was pulled out of the bag, but when they saw the result on the back of the camera I received half of my perceived sanity back. There were still plenty of thigs I did later that day that removed that last bit of percieved sanity though, which is why I kept track of getting it back I suppose. Things like this...

(Nikon D3, 250ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@35mm@35mm. 1/30th@F8. Single SB900 Speedlight to above camera right set to 1/4th power fired by pocket wizard through a 16" FotoRosa softbox. Single SB900 Speedlight in the hallways fired by pocketwizard into the hallways ceiling set to 1/4th power. Single SB800 Speedlight zoomed to 105mm fired by SU-4 Magic eye set to 1/2 power shot directly into the lamp on the bedstand to the left of the frame, and the bed.)

This may look like someone looking at a laptop on a bed, but really it's someone looking at a laptop on a bed while being lit by a strobe bounced off of a lamp. Like I say when I give lighting workshops; light is like a kid in a mud farm, it picks up the color of anything it touches. In this big blue room I couldn't use the walls to bounce the lights, and I didn't want to waste the models time going back out to the car to get yet another light modifier like a reflector. The white lampshade in the corner of the room did just fine. Really it was a bit of a gamble, I had no idea how much spill there was going to be, but happy accidents are just as good as planned accidents in my book.

(Nikon D3, 400ISO, Nikon 85mmF1.4D, 1/60th@F8. Single SB900 Speedlight fired through a 42" Umbrella set to iTTL +1 to above camera left. Single SB900 fired through a 43" umbrella set to 1/4th to behind the left of the subjects fired by SU-4 Magic eye. Single Nikon SB800 Speedlight sitting on a table to camera right set to iTTL +2 shot into the wall to camera right as to illuminate the ambient in the scene.)

Those guys were more than eager to play poker for us for a little bit. The room was relatively large, but the three speedlights made relatively short work of it all, creating media that the director was very pleased with capable of being printed poster sized which made the client incredibly happy. I'm pretty sure the three gentlemen continued to play poker for a while after we left too, which was too funny as I have no idea how they actually concentrated while I was there. Speaking of concentrating though, These ladies got the good end of the deal; we gave them cake!

(Nikon D3, 320ISO, Nikon 85mmF1.4D, 1/200th@F2. Single SB900 Speedlight 20 feet to camera right set to iTTL+1 shot through a 43" umbrella. Single SB900 to above cameara left set to iTTL +/-0 fired through a 43" Umbrella as well, Single SB800 Speedlight zoomed to 105mm set to 1/4 shot into the ceiling 45ish or so feet behind the table being photographed. All speedlights were fired by a Nikon SU-800 Commander Unit from On Camera.)

This room is probably about 75 feet deep, and 40 feet across, and the small strobes I packed in the bag did a wonderful job of lighting this for me. It's definitely an advantage of using the Small strobes out places, but what really makes things work well is the wireless iTTL of the Nikon speedlight system. Without this, it would have taken me much longer shoot these photos, having to moved to adjust the lights every time there was a mistake, or having to figure out the ratios during setup. As it was, I traveled 147 miles that day to four different Crestwood Village locations and was able to provide quite a few usable images to the client; many more images than were shown here.

Shooting with small strobes is greatly versatile, Nikon and Canon have given photographers the power to quickly light things like never before. It's not just about being able to take your camera up to 1600ISO if you want to, because you should only do that when you NEED to. Now it's about being able to shoot ANYTHING for glossy poster quality. Anything's possible in any space. Joe McNally once used 47 speedlights to light up an aircraft. What could you do with a few? More Soon.

The Del Webb Press...

The name suggests that it's a newspaper that I used to work for, or it's a newspaper in and of itself but that's totally not the case. Del Webb is a community set aside for only people age 55 and older who are retired, but still active in their lifestyle. What am I doing there might you ask? Where else do you think I'll find a better pool? They have boccie ball courts too, which is astounding as I always just used to play with obstacles in the back yard. I always thought that's the way it was supposed to be played... Either way, it's quite the place and they put out a new publication for it's residents every quarter named the Del Webb Press, which as I'm sure you've guessed by now, I shoot most of.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 400ISO Canon 70-200mmF2.8L IS@70mm. 1/125th@F6.3. Single Canon 580EX set to 1/2 power to camera right shot through a 20" SPI Softbox fired by Pocket Wizard. Single Canon 580EX set to 1/4th power zoomed to 50mm bare bulb pointed at the Hoopes's from behind out of frame to the left.)

That's the Hoopes's practicing their Yoga. Mr. Hoopes said that in the time he's been doing this he notices things he wasn't able to do before, when he was quite a bit younger. He also said that he felt it has improved his golf game significantly. I don't know about anyone else, but if your golf game is like mine I'll hear out his theory on yoga for improvement....

(Canon EOS1D Mark II, 320ISO, Canon EF24-70mmF2.8L@70mm. 1/1000th@F8.)

That's Bob. Bob just started golfing at the end of last year, but he was immediately hooked. They have a league out at Del Webb that he plays in every week. It was absolutely killing me out there to not be playing, but I was also thankful that these guys weren't showing me up at the same time. Speaking of showing me up, this is Jan Wahn, and she was willing to run on a Treadmill for me with a Sprained ankle. I don't know what she eats to give her a will like that, but I want it.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 100ISO, Canon EF70-200mmF2.8L IS@75mm. 1/160th@F4. Single Canon 580EX Speedlight zoomed to 70mm Set to 1/4th power fired by pocket wizard shot through a 43" umbrella to camera right about 8 feet in front and slightly above Jan)

I didn't make her run on the treadmill, as you can see from this photo. What you can't see in this photo is that her right ankle is swelled up, and slightly larger than her left one. She was a trooper though like I said. I couldn't bear to make her run on the Treadmill, but she did offer. Several times.

Britton falls has quite a few ammenities there, and I'll tell you that if I ever make it to the age where I can move in there, it wouldn't be a bad deal at all. The residents all got together and bought a piano for in the chateau because their old one wasn't very nice. Each resident owned a key, and there was a chart so that you could see which key each resident that donated owned. It was really neat. This photo was of the two residents that set the whole thing up and made it happen; Vicki and Keith.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 200ISO, Canon EF16-35mmF2.8L@16mm. 1/60th@F7.1. Single Canon 580EX Speedlight to above camera right set to 1/4th power zoomed to 105mm shot through a 42" umbrella fired by Pocket Wizard. Single 580EX Speedlight zoomed out to 14mm with the little plastic diffuser set to 1/2 power fired by Pocket Wizard laying on a table behind the wall to camera left to illuminate the games area behind Keith and Vicki.)

If you're interested you can see and read the Full Publication HERE. It'll be some time before I'm back out there, but it's always a pleasure. Most of the residents remember my name, and are usually very excited to see me. By far it's not one of the worst things that I have to do for the Indianapolis Star Media Group. More Soon.

Going Green...

Going green seems to be the trend these days. Rechargeable batteries that you can charge 10,000 times and will hold their charge for 900% longer. Laptops that are made out of fewer parts, so there is less waste than ever before, and can also be recycled when they are done into lord knows what. Probably flowers, maybe that's the secret ingredient to the batteries that last 900% longer;recycled laptops......mixed with Cheetos.... Anyway, everybody seems to be going green. Not long ago I was assigned to to shoot some photos for the Indianapolis Public Library system who just recently started using green library bags. Apparently you go into the library and pay a couple bucks, and in return you get Green (yet not actually GREEN) Library book bag.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 200ISO, Canon100mmF2.8 Macro, 1/125th@F3.5. Single Canon 580EX Speedlight put through a FotoRosa 16" Softbox set to 1/4th power raised above right of Sue Fired by Pocket Wizard.)

That's it. LIke I said, it's not actually green, but it is definitely a green bag. Made out of some not so space age material that is good for the environment. Unfortunately the librarian that was assigned to me didn't exactly know what the chemical makeup of the bags were, not that I'd have understood exactly what all that meant anyway, but I assure you that these were Green/Good for the environment bags.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 200ISO, Canon EF16-35mmF2.8L@16mm. 1/40th@F5. Single Canon 580EX Speedlight shot through a FotoRosa 16" Softbox set to 1/4th power fired by pocket wizard to camera left. Single Canon 580EX SPeedlight zoomed to 35mm behind Sue set to 1/16th power bare light fired by pocket wizard.)

That's Sue Kennedy. She runs the Irvington Library branch of the Indianapolis Public Library system. She was the major lead to the story in information regarding the bags. I asked her immediately if she invented these bags, and if the blue coloring was a side effect of the fact that the bags were actually green. She didn't know. She did however seem to know the library like the back of her hand. She was continually putting books away as we were walking around the library. She knew exactly where they were, even spotting when one was out of place. I don't know where half the things in my house belong, much less would I be able to recognize it being out of place at a glance. She seems to know her profession the way that most people dream of knowing what they do, but only a small percentage actually do. May we all one day be so lucky. More Soon.